A report out today is calling for the equivalent of Nice – the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence – for developments in crop technologies. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee also says the government should encourage more public debate around developments in crop technologies

In its report, the committee criticises the model used for regulating genetically modified organisms in the European Union. The system “threatens to prevent such products from reaching the market both in the UK, in Europe and, as a result of trade issues, potentially in the developing world,” according to the committee of MPs. Continue reading →

The UK is an important player in academic research worldwide. This includes being one of the world leaders in many emerging scientific fields. The UK government has recognised eight fields as Eight Great Technologies – technologies that, with support, can lead to UK strengths and business capabilities.

In the 2012 autumn statement, £600m was put into these fields, and this week’s Science and Technology Strategy announced continuing support for them, including funding for new research centres.

But what are these eight technologies? Despite working at an institute with clear links to several of the technologies, I admit to only having heard about them recently – and not in my role as a researcher, but through my interest in science policy. So I’ve summarised the eight in this post.

I’m a plant microbiologist. For the past three months, however, I haven’t touched a pipette, a petri dish or a plant pot. Instead, I’ve been doing an internship in science policy.

New PhD studentships from the BBSRC involve a three-month internship, allowing students to take a break from the laboratory and try out something new. It was set up to try and give postgraduates a chance to experience life in the real world.

This meant packing up and moving somewhere else for three months. Of course, Cambridge may not be the real world the BBSRC had in mind – it’s a place commonly described as a bubble by its students – but the work was certainly a change from my day-to-day in the lab.

This week has been an exciting one for European science, with the European Space Agency’s Philae lander making what appears to have been a successful landing on Comet 67P. But the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker chose this moment of celebration to make a disappointing announcement. The role of the Chief Scientific Adviser to the European Commission is to be abolished.

Traditionally, a UK PhD student spends 3-4 years in the lab, researching their project. However, a recent drive to produce ‘well-rounded’ students has led to the development of internship schemes. This means that I’ve left my PhD mid-research for 3 months, and I’m currently six weeks into a placement working in the Centre for Science and Policy, at the University of Cambridge. This centre works in science and policy issues across all areas, from medicine, to physics, to social sciences. I always knew that plant sciences was an important field, and one that’s been booming recently. However, in the past six weeks I’ve been looking from a policy viewpoint and I’ve realised exactly how important it is, and how valuable plant science research will be for our future.

While the reaction to Gove’s demotion was polarised, the scientific community’s response to the news of Willetts’ departure was in overwhelming unison. The man whose intellectual approach to politics earned him the nickname Two Brains drew tributes from several public figures in science.

Imran Khan, head of the British Science Association, championed the passion Willetts
showed for science, despite not having a scientific background. He said: “You’d be hardpressed to find many in our sector who have a bad word to say about him.”

The president of the Royal Society, Sir Paul Nurse, called Willetts an “outstanding science
minister, respected not only in the UK but throughout the world … His commitment, energy
and pure enthusiasm for science will be sorely missed.” Another tribute came from Jackie
Hunter, chief executive of the BBSRC, the research council that funds much of the John
Innes Centre’s research. She said: “As science minister, David Willetts has helped to place research and innovation at the centre of rebalancing and rebuilding our economy.”

Science in government: former Universities and Science minister David Willetts; his replacement, the Minister of State for Universities, Science and Cities, Greg Clark; and George Freeman, the newly-appointed Minister for Life Sciences. Photograph credits (from left): Alessia Pierdomenico/Reuters; The CBI/Flickr; Ian Burt/Dereham Times.

In the greater academic community, outside science, however, some felt that Willetts was
leaving behind a more sour legacy. His impact on universities was criticised by many
responders to Times Higher Education’s call for #WillettsLegacy tweets.

#WillettsLegacy crippling debt, marketisation, managerialisation, the crushing of the soul of the university

However, Number 10 also announced that there would be a new Minister for Life Sciences, George Freeman. Freeman, the MP for mid Norfolk, was formerly an advisor on the life sciences to Willetts, but will now take on the role in a ministerial capacity. His appointment was welcomed by many, including Imran Khan and the writer and science campaigner Ben Goldacre.

Great call by PM appointing @Freeman_George as (first?) life sciences minister. Hope he'll lead on public engagement w/ life sciences too!

Only time will tell what legacies Clark and Freeman leave behind them. But with only 10
months until the general election, it is unlikely that they will be able to see their ideas through from legislation to implementation before another reshuffle – or a change of government.

Many people think that doing a PhD is simply a case of working at a lab bench or computer desk all day every day. However, there is a lot more to PhD life than just experiments. There is a multitude of opportunities available outside of the lab, both here at the John Innes Centre as well as across the country. It is up to the individual student to decide which of these (if any) take their fancy, and to take part as they choose. As with many aspects of PhD life, taking part in these events is often down to managing your time and finding the right balance. This can be tricky – as you can see below, there are a lot of options.

Conferences

For most PhD students, it is expected that they will get the chance to attend at least one international conference. If you are lucky, it will be somewhere exotic; if unlucky, you may end up only traveling across town to the local football ground. Students will often get the chance to present their work at conferences, either as a poster or spoken presentation, as well as get the chance to network with others in their field. You might also get the chance to be involved in the organization or running of a conference or event – something that can be harder than first appears!

Public Engagement

Interest in science is not limited to scientists, and many of us working in science want to be able to share our fascination with the general public.

Young people are the next generation of researchers and scientists, and it can be very important to show them the fun side of science, rather than the curriculum-based learning of the classroom. Many children have never met a ‘real scientist’, and imagine them all to be old men with white hair, but it is important to show them that anyone can be a scientist. Getting involved in school outreach can be as simple as contacting a local school and going in and chatting to a class, or setting up a regular visit. It can be pretty challenging for us to be able to communicate our science to audiences of such varying age and knowledge, but this can be a great skill for the future. We are lucky here in Norwich to be linked to the Teacher Scientist Network, which helps connect teachers to scientists and organizes events.

Children aren’t the only members of the public who have an interest in science. Students have also been involved in national events, where they can interact with public of all ages – such as science festivals.

Policy

Science policy covers many laws and regulations regarding science, both determining scientific research and practices as well as it’s funding and the way that science affects other policies such as education. Getting involved in science policy can be easy, for example contacting your local MP and telling them what you do. There are also country-wide events run specifically for students to get involved. One of these is the Voice of the Future event, which you can read about here. Another is SET for Britain, a poster competition judged by MPs in the Houses of Parliament. Students could also get involved in schemes such as Sense About Science and their Ask For Evidence campaign.

Internships

Many funding bodies such as the BBSRC now make it a requirement for PhD students to take part in a 3-month long internship. These internships can be in any area of their choice, as long as it is not directly related to their research or in an academic research lab. Other students with other funding are also welcome to take advantage of the internship opportunities available to them. Examples of internships already carried out include working in an intellectual property firm and working in the Government Office for Science.

Some studentships are also co-funded by industry, in what is known as a CASE partnership. These students get the chance to work with their industrial partner and get experience of working in a different setting and from a different perspective.

Entrepreneurship

Sometimes a scientist will get lucky and discover or create something that could lead to a business start-up. Awareness of this has led to schemes being run to give PhD students an insight into the world of commercialization and business. A national scheme, BiotechYES, gives teams of up to five students the chance to create a business model with advice from experts from many fields. Universities also may run their own versions, such as the UEA Eureka Business Plan Competition.

Science communications

Science communication covers a huge range of activities, and you could fill an entire blog post with the opportunities available for communicating our science. An obvious (hopefully!) example is this blog, where any of our students are welcome to try their hand at writing. Guest-blogging for other sites is also a good way to get some valuable writing experience. Twitter is also a great platform for us to communicate with the public, as well as find out more from scientists that we may be interested in. As well as writing there are also opportunities for editing and getting involved in publishing, such as The Biochemist magazine’s student competitions.

Students here have also been involved in other science communication ventures, such as the RSC Take 1 competition, speaking on radio or appearing on television.

There is a really active student community at the John Innes Centre. The Student Voice Committee is a group of students who run careers, social and training events for the student body. This includes parties in the summer and at Christmas, away days and speakers/workshops. More recently we have grown our student community by forging links with the University of Cambridge Department of Plant Science, organising a joint student symposium to share and showcase the science between the two locations.

Of course, these are not the only opportunities out there for PhD students to take part in. Students here are also active in many other activities and societies around the area, including triathlons and bell-ringing to name a couple. Increasing importance is being placed on creating well-rounded academics with real life experiences – and the opportunities are definitely there for us to get involved and gain some great future skills.

By Jo Harrison, a 3rd year PhD student in Dr Steph Bornemann’s lab, and Izzy Webb, a 2nd year PhD student in Prof Phil Poole’s lab.